My week!

I've been apprenticing with the same midwife for about a year now. The way the cookie crumbled in the last week,
started with the most peaceful birth I have ever been at so far last Friday. She had a two and a half hour labor, delivered in water, mom delivered the baby and then she did a lotus birth. Then the next day, a 37 wk mama went into labor. She had a HORRIBLE first birth in the hospital, she needed this to go well. About 4 hours later...she gave birth in the bath
tub and did an awesome job. The really interesting thing is that her placenta wouldn't release. So after about an hour, we gave baby to dad, had mom stand up to let gravity try to help. Giving gentle traction by the main midwife...SNAP goes the cord. It happened to be a velamentous insertion. Midwife tried to go in and get it, but it was very fundal and time was against us, so we did have to take mom in and she ended up with a DNC. From the time we left her home and got her back, was 7 hours....pretty good for our climate! We were able to have Easter off and then Monday night, another mom who had been having early labor stuff all day, kicked in about 7pm. She delivered about 9:30pm. Tuesday....another mom that was about a wk "post due" was in labor and delivered that evening, also by herself in the pool, a very peaceful birth. And then this morning at 2am
a mom that lives in my neighborhood called to say her water broke. 20 min later she called back to say contractions were 5 min apart lasting a min. I went to her, set up, and about half an hour after I got there....she said she was feeling pressure. I checked her and she was 9. I called the midwife who is in route, but still half an hour away. Well, at 3:30am this morning I got my first catch!!! It was amazing. She delivered her baby girl in the water that we just barely got together in time. What an amazing week!!!

A week in the life as an apprentice....

Well, with a rather slowish, nonetheless, eventful start to the year, this last week as surely turned a corner! On leap day, we were called to a first time homebirthers house, was her 2nd baby. She had an awful experience in the hospital the first time around and had so much fear at the thought of even getting pregnant with #2. She labored beautifully and welcomed her son into her arms that evening. I am so proud of her and just when she thought she couldn't do it, she did it! It was awesome! (It was a boy!)

On Monday the 3rd, it was my birthday! I thought for sure SOMEBODY was going to share my birthday with me....it ended up being my best friend and her little girl...LOL! We had a GREAT day:) So on the 4th, Tuesday, I got up and got ready to head to Newark to do our usual day of prenatals. When I got there, the midwife had gone to vote and so she wasn't back quite yet. Her phone rang...it was a 614 area code...uh oh! It was a gal that was due the 16th, 4th baby and she never goes early! Well her new little guy had other plans! We headed her way and she delivered her new son in the birth pool, just an hour and twenty min after I got there! She was so peaceful and it is just such a shame that the majority of people don't get to witness birth the way we do. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SCARY!!!

Meanwhile, our last Feb mom to go, called while above mom was pushing to say she was in early labor! This winter storm has brought on lots of labors! So once we got above mom settled we checked in on this mom. She was doing fine....contractions were more like period cramps. This is her 2nd baby, 2nd home birth. We just told her to call us when the intensity changed. Well about 10pm, she called to say she hated for us to come all the way out there if she was still "early", but they were slightly more uncomfortable. With ice looming over our area, we decided to head out. Crack me up! We get there.....she has some family members there to take her daughter.....you would NEVER know this mom is in labor. Never makes a face, never breathes heavy..nada nothing zilch. Hmmmm. So once they leave we listen to baby...sounds great. We ask to check her and she agrees, to see where she is at. 8 cm!!!!!!! Wow. So we get set up, encourage them to lay down if they can..they do for awhile, then she gets into the tub. She get's out for a bit...whooooooosh, HUGE amounts of fluid. Things intensify slightly. So anyway, she gave birth at 3ish am. (yes another boy!)....weighing almost 10lbs!

So needless to say, I am a bit tired today, slept only slightly, but can't sleep so here I am. If you are reading this and expecting, please take away from this to trust your body. It really does work with out all the meds and machines. If you are having a hospital birth in Central Ohio, STAY HOME....as long as possible! It makes for a much nicer, easier birth experience. Thanks for reading, I am going to rest now:)

Good stuff..,

http://www.lamaze.org/ChildbirthEducators/ResourcesforEducators/CarePracticePapers/tabid/90/Default.aspx

Nature’s Plan for Birth
During the last weeks of pregnancy, your body and your baby prepare for birth. For a first-time mother, the baby often "drops down" into the pelvis in the weeks before birth. The cervix tilts forward and gradually begins to soften. Over a period lasting from a few days to a few weeks, you may (or may not) feel irregular contractions that help your cervix gradually thin and perhaps even dilate a few centimeters. During the last part of your pregnancy, your baby's lungs mature and he or she puts on a protective layer of fat, taking on the characteristic chubbiness of a newborn. Researchers now believe that when a baby is ready for life outside his mother's uterus, his body releases a tiny amount of a substance that signals the mother's hormones to begin labor.5 In most cases, your labor will begin only when both your body and your baby are ready.

A lot more great info in the articles.